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this looks like a patent abuse of the department, yet another example of the president politicizing using the department of justice to go after his enemies. chris: democratic congressman adam schiff reacting to news that the trump justice department subpoenaed the phone and e-mail records for him and congressman eric swaywell as part of shall swalwell as part of a leak investigation. we re back with the panel. harold, as a former member of congress yourself remarks do you think of yourself, what do you think of the idea of the department of justice issuing subpoenas for the phone records, the e-mail records, not the contents, but who they called, who they e-mailed of not only sitting members of congress, but also members of their staff and their families? well, you don t have to be a former member of congress to
it looks like a patent abuse of the department, yet another example of the president politicizing, using the department of justice to go after his enemies. reporter: the records were sought when jeff sessions was attorney general with the white house reeling from leaks. these leaks hurt our country. reporter: a former doj official says sessions never approved anything so sweeping and that only a single staffer was under investigation. congressional officials say they don t know what am turned over, only that it was metadata, not calls, context or emails. reporter: the inspector general says he ll look into the subpoenas asking whether they were based on improper considerations. that was nbc s pete williams reporting. let s bring in nbc legal contributor. we have the doj s watchdog stepping in. walk me through how this is legal that they even sought data
leaking information about the russia investigation. one committee official telling abc news apple informed close to a dozen people in may about the probe after a gag order secured by the doj expired. with no clear evidence that republicans were similarly targeted, schiff and swalwell, democrats and both vocal critics of trump, furious. this looks like a patent abuse of the department. yet another example of the president politicizing using the department of justice as a cudgel to go after his enemies. reporter: a source saying the investigation turned up no links to the leaks. but in recent years the justice department has become increasingly aggressive in pursuing leaks of classified information, from former attorney general jeff sessions to his successor bill barr. i concluded the unprecedented rise in leaks required an increase of additional support for more investigations and to speed up existing investigations. reporter: but tonight, barr is pushing back, suggesting he was